


the sea below

by sensations



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 20:47:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20070343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sensations/pseuds/sensations
Summary: “The best people never win the games. Even if they did, they wouldn’t come back that same person.”“You will. You are more than what they try to make you. You will come back to me.”She sighs a dry chuckle, tears making their way past her lips. Raschel tiptoes to meet his lips again, barely pressing them together. She grabs into the hair behind his ears, pulling her face into his neck and taking one last breathe of him. To memorize it.She looks him in the eyes with hopelessness and whispers, “I’m pregnant.”





	the sea below

**Author's Note:**

> My own AU take on the 73rd Hunger Games. Messing around with a world that's not my own with character's that are. Not betaed, be kind.

# The Sea Below

If she concentrates, she can see only the ocean. Only smell the sea. She can block the endless smoky fog of the factories looming overhead and pretend it’s a storm rolling in. Certain days, if the wind blows right, you may get the aroma of the salty air despite the chemicals.

You only get pretending in District 8. Raschel learned that lesson long ago.

She shakes her head, running her hands through her curls, letting one more breath of salty air purify her lungs. Today is reaping day and there is still work to be done.

Her oldest, Dagny, is already out of bed and heading out the door for her mandatory shift at the uniform factory. A ghost of a kiss is placed on her forehead before Dagny is gone out the screen door.

It’s just before dawn and Raschel has time before her other two children awaken. She makes her way to the small room off the kitchen to get a basin to fill with water. The old pipes spit and sputter the water out but Raschel counts her blessings. Most of the other residents don’t have access to well water, instead relying on the local river or even the ocean.

Raschel’s not sure where they would be had she not won her games all those years ago. After her husband died, they wouldn’t have made it without his income. It makes bile rise in her throat to think her family is indebted to the Capital. Their survival is all thanks to those games.

Movement catches her eye and Darle is beside her with the wash basket. Silently, they start working as a team to clean the clothes. She doesn’t need to ask why he’s up so early. She remembers the dread in the bottom of your stomach on reaping day. She remembers how it creeps up your throat until you nearly choke on it. She places a soft hand on his just a moment too long as he hands her a shirt.

Dia is awake not shortly after and is running circles around the two of them as they hang the wash out to dry. She checks her small garden she started a few months ago. Only Dia could turn the smallest patch of grass, the only patch maybe left in all of District 8, into a blossom of wildflowers. It’s a stark contrast to their small beat down cottage on the sea. Sure, this is Victor’s Village but it’s just her family and two other victors. Down the way is a woman she never really got to know named Cecelia with her three children and Woof, an older gentleman that liked to sneak the kids in the neighborhood treats. Their houses were all right up against the sand and half a mile apart from each other. The other empty houses loomed as reminders of children yet to die.

Looking at Dia, still too young for the reaping, Raschel knows she has to focus. She can’t lose herself in the paranoia of today. She must remain steadfast and not be afraid. Her two older children were already afraid enough.

She smiled softly, “Let’s get some food in those bellies, hmm?”

Dagny’s back by lunch and she’s covered in a layer of soot that marks the carpet when she walks in. She smiles brightly at her younger sister when she sees her. Her and Darle have an unspoken agreement that they shouldn’t show the fear when Dia’s around. Dia has no need for the sorrow just yet and Raschel thanks them for it. She still has a child’s innocence and she doesn’t need to lose that for another year yet.

“I’ve laid out your clothes for you, then.”

“Thanks, mama.”

She disappears after that. Her and Darle will spend most of their time alone getting ready for the reap and Raschel doesn’t blame them.

* * *

_Challis comes running up to her, taking her in his arms and spinning her around. She blushes instantly, glancing around all the people that are watching. “Cha, everyone is looking.”_

_“Let them,” his smile reaches from one ear to another. _

_“It’s reaping day. It’s not a day of celebration.”Raschel touches the lines in his cheek where his smiles ends but it doesn’t waver._

_“Any moment that’s ours is a celebration.”_

* * *

Darle looks just like his father when he smiles. Raschel hopes to see that smile again soon. He has come out in his best outfit and she fixes his collar. “You’re the most handsome boy I’ve ever seen.”

The smile makes an appearance albeit diluted, “I’m a man now, mama.”

A small laugh, fifteen is hardly a man but growing up here makes you grow up fast. “Of course. I apologize.”

Dia comes up from behind and takes his hand and he escorts her out the door, heading to the square.

Raschel gives a small knock before walking into Dagny’s room. She’s reaching around to work the button at the top of her dress but her mother quickly takes over the task. 

“Mama, I’m scared.”

Raschel breathes deep as Dagny’s eyes find hers as she turns around. “I know, baby. So am I. I hate this. Your name is only in twenty-one times. I know that sounds like a lot. But it’s in with tens of thousands. The odds are in your favor.”

“I’m scared because I so desperately want it to be someone else. I want someone else to die instead of me. It eats me up to think that way, mama.” Her hands are uselessly pulling at her hemline trying to focus on anything other than this reality in front of her.

Raschel catches Dagny’s face in her hands. “Don’t. Thinking this way is not on you. In a perfect world, these wouldn’t be your circumstances. I’m so sorry they are. You are not the person they are trying to make you into.” She whispers her last sentence. 

One tear falls but Dagny wipes it away fast.

Raschel continues, “You are strong. You are your mother’s daughter. You are more.”

“I am more.”

* * *

_She can barely breathe when they usher her into the city hall. She heard her name being called. It’s echoing in her head. Raschel Eversley. Raschel Eversley. Raschel Eversley. _Is this real?_ She can hear her breath coming our in shallow gasps and her heart must be beating too fast to register under her palm. She’s holding onto her chest. _Am I choking? 

_The door opens and her family visits, her younger sister holding onto her like if she doesn’t let go, then maybe Raschel can’t leave. A Peacekeeper roughly makes sure she lets go. They must’ve gotten the three minutes they are allowed but Raschel still can’t focus and everything is such a blur that she doesn’t even see them leave the room. _

_Challis comes rushing into the room looking like a hunted animal. “Raschel.”_

_Her eyes search his face but never really focus but his soft lips find hers in a frenzy and she’s soon back to reality. Her arms reach around his neck, breaking from the kiss but pulling him impossibly close._

_“You can do this.” He says with finality but she’s shaking her head. Does he really expect her to win? “You are better than all of them. You are more. You are the best person I know. That I’ve ever known.”_

_Pulling back to look him in the face, she blinks the tears that are brimming into a fall. “The best people never win the games. Even if they did, they wouldn’t come back that same person.”_

_“You will. You are more than what they try to make you. You will come back to me.”_

_She sighs a dry chuckle, tears making their way past her lips. Raschel tiptoes to meet his lips again, barely pressing them together. She grabs into the hair behind his ears, pulling her face into his neck and taking one last breathe of him. To memorize it. _

_She looks him in the eyes with hopelessness and whispers, “I’m pregnant.”_

* * *

The square is filling up fast as she holds on to Dia’s hand maybe a little bit too tightly. Her eyes search for her older children’s spots in the crowd. Once she finds them both, she feels slightly better but chuckles at the irony that her body falls into a relief that they are safe once she has eyes on them. They are never safe.

She hands Dia off to one of her coworkers as she makes her way up to the stage. As a victor, she must sit up front to represent the Capital. They have set up in front of City Hall between two large factories. Most all of the district’s best clothing is already mucked up by the dirt and dust floating through the air. The smoke wafting from the factory signals that the mandatory shifts stop for no one, not even the reaping.

She finds her seat between Cecelia and Woof who smile politely. The glass bowls seem to be filled to the brim this year, signaling the desperation of signing up for tesserae. The mandatory viewing drolls on in the background as Raschel seeks her children in the crowd once more. Dagny is already looking straight at her with a steely look of determination. She smiles at her daughter, who smiles back. When she finds Darle, he’s looking at the sky behind the city hall. Knowing him, he’s imagining anywhere but here. He has a vivid imagination and always dreams of days that Raschel knows will never come.

She almost misses the announcement for ladies first. The Capital escort is making her way to the bowls and delicately searches. She make her way to the bottom and pulls out just one slip. That one slip that is a death note.

When “Dagny Arkwright” fills the street, you can hear the audible gasp in the crowd. Raschel loses all the breath in her body and Cecelia quickly reaches over to hold her hand. She holds so tight that Raschel can feel her hand going numb along with the rest of her body as she watches her daughter make her way up the aisle. They lock eyes and their emotionless faces must match because they both refuse to give the satisfaction of a reaction. She knows all the cameras are pointing at her waiting for the breakdown. They are searching her to find her cracks and she refuses to give one.

Dagny calmly walks the steps and faces the camera like they are already her enemy. She’s good at this and it’s going to get her killed. 

Raschel is busy making sure she remembers to breathe and almost misses the boy’s name getting called.

“Darle Arkwright.” 

It echoes down the adjoining streets and come back to Raschel one more time before she finds the concrete beneath her.


End file.
